What were you eating at the age of 16?

aggelikik wrote: »

Homemade lunch and dinner, pretty much same as today. Only a glass of milk for breakfast, never was a breakfast person even as a kid. Snacks tended to be lots of oranges and lots of bread - bread with jam, grilled cheese sandwiches, or just bread, I loved bread. I clearly remember going through an orange phase in my late teens, with lots and lots of oranges, it had lasted for years.

Your oranges made me think of orange juice. My dad used to make us (my sister and I) drink o.j. with breakfast whenever he was home. We liked it okay but it was annoying to *have to* have it. One Saturday we were thrilled because there was. no o.j. so we didn't have to drink it. My sister and I went to a community expo that day and a grocery store had a wheel to spin for prizes. Well one of us spun and won a big jug of o.j. Heh. On the walk home we passed a tree with a crook in it about 6 feet up so we carefully lodged the jug of juice in there and just kept on walking. I have no idea why we didn't just give it away to somebody at the expo or decline the prize. Nope, leaving it in a tree made much more sense

My diet was certainly not the best when I was 16. For many years I've logged everything I eat (though not on MFP), so I can easily look back and see what I was eating.

A typical breakfast: A bowl of cereal and homemade bread made with whole grains OR homemade waffles with bananas or strawberries on top (both options being high in carbs with little non-grain protein or fat)

Lunch: Usually a combination of some of these foods: Chips, cereal bars, homemade pizza, homemade cheese biscuits, Oreos, vanilla wafers, Ritz crackers

Snack: Homemade bran muffins OR granola bars OR cereal bars

Dinner: Home-cooked meal involving meat (usually chicken but sometimes beef or fish) (though I didn't eat that much; on average about 2-3 ounces), rice OR frozen French fries and sometimes bread. Other options included homemade pizza, fried rice, or spaghetti.

Dessert: Homemade cake most days

I was about 5'7" 115-120 lbs. Even though I was quite sedentary at the time, I somehow was staying around my maintenance calories, so the little weight gain I had at that time was natural muscle growth from growing. Other than the fact that I got ample amounts of whole grains (which was more than needed and probably too much gluten), there wasn't much else that was very healthy about my diet then. I think it was about 60% carbs, 30% fat, and 10% protein. My protein intake was somewhere around 40-50g.

At 16, I never ate breakfast, and I rarely ever ate lunch either. I was SKINNY, and not in a fashion model way. I ate whatever was served, and usually regretted it ( I had no idea 30 years ago that I had allergies to foods as well as environmental, so I paid the price often). I had chocolate milk and a KitKat bar every day....and cigarettes and pepsi all day long.....my grandmother used to get so upset about that, she thought I survived on smokes and pop...lol...I guess I kind of did! I don't miss those days, I've seen pictures of myself at the time...and it's awful! I was 95 lbs and all you could see was bones, but I thought I looked great..lol! NEVER AGAIN!

I loved fries and gravy and instant ramen but luckily I also loved vegetables and always wanted the salad bar when we would go for dinner.

yourhiddengem wrote: »

Queenmunchy wrote: »

yourhiddengem wrote: »

Queenmunchy wrote: »

Black coffee all day, almost no food. Terrible diet.

That sounds like my college diet. Mostly cause I was broke, tired and lazy

That was my diet from like 11 years old until 25 when I became pregnant. I was an avid reader of nutritional information and crazy in the kitchen (had my own catering business at 21) but it didn't click in applying to myself until after I had a child to care for.

Oh wow starting to drink coffee at 11 seems early!

My mom and aunt started drinking coffee around age 7 or 8 (late 1950s). Mom remembers how their grandmother wouldn't let them have any when they were with her and they would be so upset! Lol!

OMG. Someone mentioned French fries! At some point in the late 1980s, my dad's favorite snack after my brother and I went to bed was a whole bag of frozen fries cooked in a Fry Daddy. If one of us followed the amazing smell, he let us have a few, but got upset if we took what he thought was too many. When mom finally evicted the Fry Daddy, he switched to most of a half-gallon of ice cream as a snack. Between super-big eater Dad and always-on-a-diet-even-if-she-was-normal-weight Mom, it was a weird food environment, despite Mom's efforts to sort of teach us better. As I said somewhere up the thread, Mom has gained tons more weight and has given up entirely and says she is 65 and can't ever lose weight and Dad found MFP and lost 50-55 lbs. It must have killed Mom that he could eat well over 2000 calories and still lose tons of weight and she was cooking the food they food the both ate and she could only eat about 1200 calories and it was still a struggle to drop pounds. I might have given up, too.

Breakfast, usually nothing, I walked 45 minutes to school for an academic program, never had time to eat. Weekends I'd have cold cereal or instant oatmeal.

Lunch I would go to the burger stand with my boyfriend (now husband), so we'd have burgers, poutine, onion rings etc. Or we'd eat cafeteria pizza. Weekends would be a pb&j with yogurt or something easy.

Dinner was whatever my mom/his mom cooked, his mom specialized in chicken strips and instant potatoes most nights (she got home just in time to make dinner). My mom would do canned soup or pasta a lot... i didn't like either. If my dad was home he'd do a nice dinner like a roast with fixings or a casserole or pot pie.

We always had bagels or donuts or instant noodles for snacks, fruit and vegetables went fast in a house with 4-9 kids, depending if my godmother and her kids were staying with us.

Breakfast was usually skipped or occasionally I'd have toast

Mid morning I'd have a bag of crisps (cheese and onion discos were amazing)

Lunch. A sausage roll and a sandwich, then some sweets

Dinner. If I was in, it'd be a fairly healthy mealade up of some combination of meat/potatoes/veg. If I was out with friends (most nights to be fair, christ knows how I did so well in my GCSEs) then the chippy or Chinese would be called on

Oh and drinks wise, it was either milk or diet coke (never liked the taste of full fat coke) except on a Friday night when we'd indulge in underage drinking of cider/cheap lager/lambrini and then a kebab on the way home

Oh and 16 was probably the last time I wasn't really overweight. I was a bit chubby but you couldn't say I was fat (although I thought I was!)

I was an unhealthy vegetarian living on cheerios, nutrigrain bars, white rice mixed with shredded cheddar (cafeteria had limited vegetarian options) and double chocolate ice cream. I'm sure my parents cooked healthy dinners but I honestly don't remember them. I do know that I was on a constant blood sugar roller coaster from my high -carb almost - zero - protein diet though.

breakfast: mcdonalds or a smoothie or eggs toast bacon or break burrito

lunch: sald and soup or sandwhich or fast food

dinner: restaurant or my mom cooked a balanced meal...

and whatever the umm.... munchies made me eat